Muir students rally, show support for Principal Sheryl Orange

PASADENA - Muir High School students rallied and marched Monday in support of Principal Sheryl Orange, who a sources has said will be removed from her position by the end of the school year.

Some of the hundreds of students who gathered in front of Muir during their lunch break wore orange shirts, chanted "save Ms. Orange" and held signs criticizing news reports. The students marched from the front of the school along Lincoln Avenue to Woodbury Road and back.

"I feel like we're not being treated fairly," said Bianca Casillas, a sophomore who helped organize the rally. "They're trying to take away our prinicpal, who has obviously made progress in the last few years she's been here. Without her here I don't know how much progress we would have made."

Other students credited Orange for helping them personally to improve their grades, including with after school tutoring.

A source last week said Orange will be removed from her post but will remain with the Pasadena Unified School District in some capacity. A posting on job website Ed Join reportedly was for Muir.

PUSD has declined to comment on Orange's status, and spokesman Adam Wolfson said the priority for the district is for students to remain in the classroom.

"It's great whenever students speak out on their own educational opportunities," Wolfson said. "We want students engaged in the process, that's why we have student board members."

Orange has been principal at Muir for about five years, and implemented a realignment plan that divided the school into three academies, with an additional $2.8 million approved by the school board.

The school has improved its Academic Performance Index by 81 points under Orange's leadership, lowered its dropout rate and increased attendance to 94 percent, according to assistant principal Charles Park.

But Orange has come under fire for racial tensions on campus, including a fight between Latino and black students last year.

In September, football coach Ken Howard allegedly assaulted a student during a bag search. Boys basketball coach Gamal Smalley and athletic director Robert Galvan were placed on administrative leave last week while the district conducts an investigation into what led the team to forfeit 20 games.